Avenue Q

'Avenue Q' is a tatty fictional boulevard of dreams in New York City. Creatively as well as geographically, it's not a million miles from Sesame Street, although it's aimed at those of us who long ago turned off children's TV. Princeton is an English graduate seeking a purpose; instead, he finds a room, friends both human and Muppet-esque, and sharp-tongued Kate Monster to romance. The easy interaction between puppets - closeted Rod, irresponsible Nicky, Lucy the Slut and others - and humans, such as Japanese Christmas Eve and her browbeaten fiancé, helps create this idealistic haven, where characters can sing that 'everyone's a little bit racist' while being nothing of the kind. It also helps integrate the puppet handlers, who move their mouths and act alongside their charges.

Subtlety and puppets don't mix. There's a paean to porn and, while co-creators Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez know their musical history ('Something's coming, something good,' sings Princeton at one point, directly aping 'West Side Story'), their lyrics are hardly Leonard Bernstein: 'If you were gay/I'd shout hurray!' sings Nicky, buoyantly. But the vibrant set is cleverly used, while Christmas Eve's affecting rendition of 'The More You Love Someone, The More You Want To Kill Them' more than compensates for her status as the Avenue's Japanese stereotype, a demonstration of everyone being 'a little bit racist' that feels surplus to requirements.

The production is too long, but it is very funny, which enables it to be as sanctimonious as the programme it is supposedly rebelling against. We all turn into our parents eventually; why should the offspring of a children's programme be different?